Textile brand Raymond has set out to please women. It was earlier for the ‘complete man’, but now it intends dressing the ‘complete woman’. The ‘Made-to-Measure’ business of the company will soon make ‘made-to-order’ garments for women from its manufacturing facilities based in Bangalore.
“Volumes are still small in the made-to-measure business today, but we are thinking about offering the same service for women,” said Rakesh Pandey, President, Retail and Corporate Marketing, Raymond.
Women’s wear has never been Raymond’s forte, as it exited its prêt designer brand Be: in the past. It has also moved out from the women’s wear category with its ready-to-wear brands such as Parx and Color Plus.
However, Raymond continues to have women’s wear under its flagship readymade brand of Park Avenue in the western formal wear category. “Park Avenue is the only readymade brand under which we have women’s wear today. But now we would be entering the women’s garments segment under our made-to-measure, and will also take it to our stores outside the country,” added Pandey. Raymond’s made-to-measure stores are already present in West Asia including a store at a Dubai mall.
Raymond’s entered the made-to measure customised solution market nearly five years ago and has 45 outlets at present. The high margin ‘customised tailoring’ is still niche in India but there are others such as the Aditya Birla Group (Linen Club fabrics) and even regional players such as Cambridge eyeing this segment.
With prices ranging from Rs 1,600 (for a single shirt) going up to Rs 15,000 for a two piece suit, prices can go up to a few lakh depending on the requirement of customers. As Raymond already manufactures the fabric, offering customised solutions for garments was a natural extension for the business. Going forward, Raymond would also be offering accessories such as cufflinks, ties and bags as part of its made-to-measure offering.
The company is also enhancing the distribution of these services with van operations to offer doorstep delivery of the garments.
Besides, the regular stores of the company under ‘The Raymond shop’ would continue to expand through the franchise route, but mostly in the domestic market.
In the past, Raymond has been steadily expanding its stores in the international markets in places such as West Asia and Bangladesh. “Today we have 30 stores in West Asia and another 20 stores in Bangladesh. But now instead of expanding overseas, we would be adding 1,000 franchises in the domestic market and entering deeper into the hinterland to tier 4 and 5 cities,” he added.
Most of Raymond’s made-to-measure shops continue to be owned by the company unlike the franchise-led Raymond shops.
“The financial numbers of Raymond do not look encouraging today as it is facing challenges in terms of growth and profitability. In a micro niche category such as made-to-measure, to even consider getting into woman’s wear is surprising. While the margins may be high in the category, the business would lack in terms of volumes and will not have any significant impact on the balance sheet of the company,” said Arvind Singhal, Chairman, Technopak, a global management consulting firm.